How do you feel about the Gay Olympics?
I've found out today that my home town is putting in a bid to host the Gay games, formerly known as the Gay Olympics,
besides the obvious jokes about contenders beating off stiff competition and categories for handball, muff diving and bob's-lay, it made me feel like there's something fundamentally wrong with having a Gay Olympics, The special Olympics is for the mentally retarded and the paralympics for those that are physically disabled, do moves like this only hurt the gay cause?
For a group that wants to be treated the same as everyone else, does this not further bolster the idea that gay people are different.
What would the gay community say if there was a straight Olympics?
|
2
points
Believe it or not, the point is not to piss you off, or for anyone to get paranoid that we're holding the agenda meeting. If tomorrow someone threw a switch that showed what everyone's true colors are, you'd be surprised to see the truth: some of your closest friends and family are gay, but they've hid it from you for years (because they know the amount hate that exist in our society). One of my best friends has been married to a woman for 20 years and they have two kids together. They married young, right out of high school and he felt pressure from his family like it's what he was supposed to do. As a gay man, involved in a number of organizations in the community, I meet as many people who are "faking it" in heterosexual relationships, because they feel like they have to. I didn't come out until my mid-20s. Sometimes, people ask me "why did you wait so long to come out?" And the answer is simple. There's never a day that goes by where I don't have to explain myself to someone. Why am I gay? Don't I know I'm sinning? Is it psychological? Do I really feel like a woman on the inside? Do I privately wish I was a woman? Is it nature or nurture? And suddenly, I have to be the spokesman for the whole community. My strait friends never have to explain why they feel the way they do. Because they're normal, people tell me. Then, to hell with it we're abnormal. Sometimes, it's nice to be around other abnormal people and not have to explain yourself. Sometimes, it's nice to be with people who are like you and maybe feel a little something called pride. I don't think people realize what we go through, especially those of us who live in middle America towns, where there's a church and every corner. And I'm not gonna diss your church, because it brings a lot of people comfort. But also understand that it brings a lot of people pain. I have a neighbor who makes his kids come into the house whenever I come out onto the lawn. Mothers in grocery stores have shouldered their kids behind them when I've been nearby, as if I'm that sick. But they have no idea. Every now and then it's nice to be around people, where I don't have to worry about that kind of thing, where I can be myself and not have to explain. I was and am considered strange and have always felt abasemented for it, and I understand wanting to be around others whom wouldn't judge you or try to make you justify yourself. I always hung around the down-and-outs, the floaters, the weirdo's, and the loveless as a kid, and it shaped my disposition on a number of things in life. - All I'm really trying to say, to cut down my mindless typing, is that I can sympathize with the motives behind having a separate gay Olympics, YET I do not believe it will have an ultimately positive result. In fact, I'd say that the best way to stick through any form of bigotry or hatred is to fight it face to face. Win out the regular Olympics if you must! 1
point
I understand what you're saying, but I think the difference is really in perception. It's not that we're trying to segregate ourselves or have any delusion of competing with the actual Olympics. It's not a way of trying to shut the rest of the world out. In fact, strait people would be more than welcome at the Gay Olympics. Understand that it's not about trying to shut anyone out. It's about needing to feel a sense of community with others that are like us. 1
point
Fair enough, I do understand the plight of the homosexual (male especially), I have some good friends and some family members, I'm also a staunch defender of gay rights. I just feel that moves like the Gay Games will only further marginalise homosexuals in the minds of the bigoted. Where I'm from is a working man's town in a still quite Catholic nation, although that's declining, thankfully. I can already hear the grumbling of the old school Irish, a generation of people that were brought up to fear and ridicule homosexuality, as they were any sort of sexual deviation from the church sanctioned norm ( a church which ironically defended their closeted homosexual and child molesting priests). 1
point
1
point
1
point
1
point
1
point
1
point
1
point
1
point
|
